I've just added dual and triple-screen versions of my "Blue Christmas" update. From the feedback I've gotten so far it sounds like the twilight sky is bit polarizing.

For my part; I chose to add some color because so many of my Christmas tree wallpapers have been under black skies. I wanted to do something a little different. Maybe Christmas isn't the time for "different" though. I tend to think that sometimes polarizing is a little better anyway, because it may be a stronger feeling for the people that do enjoy it.

What do you think? Either way I do think a second render will go up before I am completely finished with this one. The multiscreen in particular needs some nip-tucks before I am fully happy with it. I sort of rushed a few things so it would be ready in advance of the Holiday.

It would be an understatement to say that this was a difficult render to produce. Without getting too technical I will just say that you can really get yourself into trouble by cranking up the quality settings in Vue. Also, I've found the new version of Vue doesn't even begin to accurately estimate the render time remaining. I don't want to spoil the Holiday spirit with any further rantings so I will leave it at that.

Fortunately I was able to finish the render (though I had to restart it a few times) and I think it turned out pretty well. I do see a few things I would like to tweak but I might wait until after the Holidays to do any re-renders.

The multiscreen has been rendering on my alternate workstation for the past few days so it should be up shortly. I hope you enjoy the new wallpaper!

The first multiscreen render of "Elegy (Winter/Day)" didn't turn out quite as well as I would have liked. Widening the camera angle left me with an image that was far brighter/glaring than the original single-screen.

I posted it anyway and set about re-rendering it with some new atmospheric settings to compensate for the wide-angle. That new render finished yesterday and I've updated the dual and triple-screen versions in my Member gallery.

My new Christmas render is nearly finished (!) and I hope to have it up in the next 24 hours.

Also, my 25% off coupon (good for both new subscriptions and renewals) expires at midnight tonight! Everyone (not just redditors) is welcome to use the coupon code "redditor" to get the discount.

On December 2nd I was sitting and waiting for a render to finish which I decided it would be fun to do an "IAMA" (Ask me Anything) on Reddit.com. Redditor "poker_face" asked if I could "draw" a Reddit Alien (TM). My answer was "We'll See", which was taken to mean no.

As my kids know, "We'll See" can sometimes mean yes. I had a such a nice visit with the Reddit community that I thought it was the least I could do to try my hand that the iconic Alien.

Most Redditors seemed to know me from my "Fluorescence" mushrooms so I thought it would be fun to combine the two. Especially since my Christmas render is still churning. I roughed this out and rendered it on my third-string workstation using Lightwave 10.

I'm also making good on all of the requests for a Reddit discount. Redditors can use the coupon code "redditor" to save 25% off all Memberships and Renewals until midnight Sunday.

This one is dedicated specifically to Redditor "Rethread". As requested: Something "warm and fuzzy" for the Redditors.

Christmas Wallpaper Update: This render is still churning away. The good news is that it will go much faster once the radiosity calculations are completed and I can save this calculation for future re-renders. Soon I hope!

I am still waiting for this Christmas render to finish. Thousands of tiny luminous objects on a 400MB mesh makes for a very complicated radiosity pre-gather...

Lastly, I was floored by the response to my AMA on Reddit last Friday. I only mean't to write answers for a couple of hours but it turned into an all-day affair with me re-connecting with a lot of fans who, for whatever reason, lost track of my work over the years.

Anyway, I had a blast answering as many questions/posts as I could and may have a little something for the Redditors coming up by way of thanks...

If you are using ChronoWall you can now set the night version to display in the evening and this new version during the day. Please give ChronoWall a try if you enjoy my time-of-day variations. For the rest of today the developer is offering 25% off if you use the coupon code blackfriday.

Speaking of discounts, I am running my first ever "Cyber Monday" Special for today only.

I've added dual and triple-screen versions of "An Octopus's Garden" to the Members Gallery this afternoon. I think it turned out pretty well in the end, but I'm still steamed that I lost my original file. I suspect it happened when I selected "Compress File" while saving y Vue scene. All of my files will be saved uncompressed from now on (even though they are 3 - 6 GB each sometimes).

After rebuilding my "Octopus's Garden" file last weekend I decided to step away from it and work on something else for a bit. I hope you've enjoyed my Mandelbulber experiments. After the fractals went up I set about correcting some of the issues in my underwater scene.

Fans of my work know I am fascinated by fractals. They appear, in one shape or form, in just about everything I do. Recently I learned of programs that allow you to explore them in three dimensions and finally was able to dig in and play with one (called Mandelbulber) over the weekend.

My first render is now up in the Members Gallery for review. I call it "Helios", suggested by my son Jason (5) who said it looked like a sunrise. My oldest son Ian felt it looked more like a Sarlaac.

I rendered it at 5280 x 3295 and the details (IMO) are just astounding.

This is all the result of only a couple of hours playing with the program so I feel like I have only really scratched the surface of what it can do. I would certainly love to figure out a way of exporting the 3D data to other programs. Maybe Bucephalus could handle it, but then again maybe not.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it on your desktop! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The first change you will notice is the new title. "An Octopus's Garden" is, of course, borrowed from one of my favorite Beatles songs. It was the title I had in mind when I started the project but my original scene file was corrupted before I had the chance to add much in the way of sea life. Instead I chose a temporary title for the first version (which will remain in the Pickle Jar).

The sun angle is a bit different in this version so there are more shadows. I've also tried to vary up the corals in the foreground. There are also quite a few more fish this time around. Maybe too many?

First, I have good news and bad news regarding my latest render. The good news is that I've added "Neptune's Garden" to the Members Gallery this afternoon. The bad news? Let me explain...

I've always loved underwater scenes and was thrilled to learn that Vue 10 had a new water rendering engine. I've worked on this scene for about a week through quite a few different revisions. Light and color behave differently underwater and this has been a learning experience for me.

My latest render finished this morning and I would say that I am around 80% happy with it. I started in to fixing the last 19% (mostly changing some of the colors on the corals and adding some misc sealife) when tragedy struck. Vue crashed and for some strange reason refused to reopen the scene file that I had just saved 15 minutes before. The backup appears to be corrupted too. What's up with that?

Fortunately my kids were at school when it happened because I get in trouble when I swear in front of them.

Anyway, I am talking with the folks at e-onsoftware about investigating what happened to my file. They asked me to send it to them but I am not hopeful. I decided to post what I had while I waited to see what could be done about my broken scene. 80% is better than nothing after all. In the meantime I guess I will try to recreate what I can.

Second, I am increasing my regular 20% military discount to 30% in honor of Veterans Day. Active and retired military (of any nationality) may use the coupon code "liberty" to get the discount on all new Memberships and Renewals. The offer is valid until midnight 11/11.

I've added dual and triple-screen versions of "Elegy (Winter/Night)" to the Members Gallery this morning. You may notice the framing is a bit different than the original multiscreen version of "Elegy". I ran into a nasty Vue d'Esprit bug which wiped out my scene file for the original multiscreen so I had to recreate it as best I could.

I've added updated versions of "The Grand Design" to the Members gallery (because even the grandest design can be improved). The new version incorporates some of the suggestions I received in the feedback (adding nebulae, star clusters, etc). I've also added new dual and triple-screen renders that pull back on the zoom a little and show a bit more of the vertical energy streamers.

Hope you enjoy the changes! Check out my Zazzle store for the print and canvas versions!.

If you have a PS3 you can now log into the Playstation Network Store and purchased animated "dynamic" XMB themes based on my work. You can check them out on the Disruptive Media home page or log in the PSN store and find them under New Releases>>Premium Themes.

Hope to have the multiscreen of "Elegy (Winter/Night)" up soon and be looking for a new underwater render in the near future...

A couple of items to mention today. First I am running a Halloween Special until midnight 10/31!

All Memberships and Renewals are 25% off if you use the coupon code "trickortreat". If you've been waiting for a sale this is as good as it is going to get for a while.

Also, I've added dual and triple-screen renders of "The Grand Design" to the Members Gallery this morning. For the multiscreen I tried "zooming" in on the galaxy so it spans the entire horizonal frame, however I am not entirely convinced this worked out for the best.

I am planning on implementing a few of the suggestions made in the feedback section so if you would like to see the revised multiscreen framed differently please share your thoughts.

Next I wanted to mention something that happened a few weeks ago. I was notified by a fan that someone was selling one of my images as an Android "Live Wallpaper". Live Wallpapers, if you didn't know, are interactive animated graphics that can be used in place of static images. They are only usable (to my knowledge) on Android devices.

I was actually pretty blown away by what the developer had accomplished and apparently the app had become pretty popular in the Android Marketplace. It's called "Mystic Halo" and here's a video of it in action:

Last, but not least, I am happy to report that my alternate box (Hydra) finally finished my print render of "Poseidon's Playground" today. I was afraid the prints would be too dark if I used my original scene so I brightened the colors and lighting a bit before rendering. I also added some depth of field blur to make things look a bit more 3D.

I've been working on an update to my "Castle Dracula" project for the past 4 or 5 days and it is finally ready to share with my Members. Fog and firelight sure do take a long time to render!

As you can see, it is a pretty radical change from the first version. Perhaps it is a bit over-the-top now but I was sort of going for that to be honest. I know when you make this many changes there are bound to be a sizable number of folks who do not approve. I will be satisfied if you enjoy even one of the versions available.

I also wanted to mention that back in April 2010 I was asked by my rep at Zazzle to sign a release so that my "Last Light of the Sun" print could be "featured" in the upcoming prequel of "The Thing".

Well, the film comes out this weekend and I am tempted to see it if only to find out if they ever used the print. If you are planning on seeing "The Thing" this weekend perhaps you could post here if you spot the print in the background somewhere.

You may notice that the color pattern on version 4 is a bit different than the single screen version. Since I used Photoshop to create the effect in #4 it would be difficult (though not impossible) to replicate exactly. I chose instead to create a new distribution. Hope you like it!

Playing around with the navigation on DB today. I've removed the link column I've been using for the past five or six years in favor of a "navbar" at the top. Nothing too radical but I think it opens things up a bit.

Added a couple of new revisions of "First Blush" that I came up with this morning. I employed a little post-render trickery for these. Since my 3D software doesn't let you vary the leaf color on a "per tree" basis I rendered a green tree, a yellow tree and a more muted red tree and selectively layered them in Photoshop.

This one is a "mental photograph" of sorts. I was driving on an eastern Iowa freeway earlier this week when I looked to my right and saw a green, summerlike, wooded area with this one blazing red tree sticking out like a torch.

I only glimpsed the scene for about 5 seconds, but I thought it would make an interesting wallpaper. I fired up Vue when I got home and constructed this scene from memory (with a wee bit of artistic license).

My last few wallpapers have been a bit on the dark side, so I wanted to make at least one bright wallpaper before moving on to Halloween and the seasons beyond. I hope you like it!

09/17/11

Huzzah! The long delayed dual and triple-screen versions of "Enshrouded" finally finished rendering last evening and are now available to my Members. In the end it took over 1000 hours (!) for the render to complete.

Why did it take so long? The tree models I used for this scene were designed to be used as "Hero" foreground objects, with only a handful recommended in a scene, yet I carelessly scattered hundreds of them about. What can I say? I don't like low-res objects...

There are also multiple layers of "volumetric" clouds, each casting shadows on onto each other and the scene. The more you can see through the cloud (where the trees fade away) the longer it takes for the raytracer to process.

Yes, the scene would have taken a lot less time to render on Bucephalus but I really didn't want to tie up my main machine for 2 weeks. Fortunately my old box (Hydra) chugged away faithfully in my basement and didn't crash even once. Thanks old friend!

Back in August a Member (thanks Manu!) sent me a link to a photo on National Geographic's website which reminded him of my "Autumnwood" wallpaper. I thought it would be a fun project to make my own version of the scene and this is the result. Now, it isn't a complete copy. I didn't have the photo open in another window while I was working on it, but it was definitely inspired by the NatGeo photo however.

I call this one "Elegy" as it has a bit of a mournful feel to it. Truth be told it took me a few hours to think of a decent title. I didn't want to explicitly remake "Autumnwood" because I think that series still stands pretty well on its own. Don't be surprised, however, to see a few seasonal variations of this one.

Please click through to the higher resolution version as the thumbnails don't really represent this one very well. I hope you enjoy it!

PS: Here's a print version on Zazzle (rendered a 5600 x 4500) if you want to place an order while their 50% off sale is going. Use coupon code "DECKYOURWALL" to get the discount.

09/02/11A number of folks have asked if I could render a few different color variants of "String Theory". I tried a few different combinations yesterday and found this one that I thought looked pretty good. It is available now in the Pickle Jar (multiscreens included).

08/31/11I've added dual and triple-screen versions of "String Theory (Blue)" to the Members Gallery today. As much as I love blue, I couldn't see adding another blue abstract to my gallery so soon after "Clockwork" so I chose with a different palette for this one. Of course I am all too happy to provde options (especially when they only take a couple of hours to render).

My new Autumn picture is rendering right now on Bucephalus and I'm hoping to have it done before the weekend. But I'm still torn about whether or not to post Autumn pictures before Labor Day. Maybe I should hold onto it until Tuesday...

Last reminder! Today is the last day for students and educators to get the 25% discount. Use the coupon code "learning" to get the discount on all Memberships and Renewals until midnight.

I was watching TV a few nights ago and had the good fortune to catch "NOVA: Hunting the Hidden Dimension" (the entire episode is available to watch online). I was floored! I already knew a great deal about fractals but this documentary really opened my eyes as to how essential they are to my work.

Of course I immediately fired up my copy of Apophysis and have added my first fractal render since 2008 to the Members Gallery this morning. I call it "String Theory" and I hope you enjoy it.

I developed this one on my MBP while Bucephalus rendered a new Autumn scene that I've been working on. It's not too early for Autumn renders is it? I hope to have that one ready before the end of the week.

Friendly reminder to students, parents and educators: I've upped my education discount to 25% for the entire month of August so you can deck out your laptop or tablet with some new artwork. Use the coupon code "learning" to get the discount on all Memberships and Renewals until Sept 1.

In other news, I wanted to mention that my gallery on Muralsyouway.com is now live. 16 of my most popular images are available at sizes up to 13' x 8'!

Lastly a reminder to students, parents and educators: I've upped my education discount to 25% for the entire month of August so you can deck out your laptop or tablet with some new artwork. Use the coupon code "learning" to get the discount on all Memberships and Renewals until Sept 1.

This one is without the "dust experimentation" that quite a few thought muddied the scene. The original version will be staying in the Pickle Jar.

Which style do you prefer? I will admit that the Vue d'Esprit dust I rendered did look a bit chunky!

08/19/11

I added a new planetscape that I've been playing around with recently. It's called "The Last Throes" and I am experimenting here with some new ways of generating outer space "dust" in 3D.

The scene started in Lightwave (the stellar "phenomena") and then I used the resulting render as a backdrop in Vue d'Esprit to add the dust. I used the resulting combination as yet another backdrop in Lightwave to add the planets. Then back into Vue for one more layer of dust. Anyway, file this one under "experimental".

What do you think? Back to the drawing board?

08/14/11

I've added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Cosmic Shoals" to the gallery this morning. You might notice that moved some things around to fit wider/shorter frame. Hope you guys enjoy it!

FYI: My "Back-To-School" special is set to expire at midnight tonight. Use the "BACKTOSCHOOL" coupon code to save 25% off all Memberships and Renewals Thanks!!

I've added an update to 2003's "Cosmic Shoals" this afternoon. I didn't really set out to do an update when I started this project. Rather I set out to model a globular cluster (and some of that is still in the image) but the story "grew in the telling".

Jessie told me this one reminded her of some of my earlier work, and I tend to think this is because of the lack of any vegetation or the other objects I tend to scatter around using Vue's ecosystems. I did try adding some "alien flora" here and there but nothing really seemed to look right (given the scale of the scene). I may yet play around with that but I thought it looked nice enough to share as is. Hope you enjoy it!

One more note. There's only one more week until my kids start school (Jason in Kindergarten!). I will miss them bursting in every 30 minutes wanting to play, but I'm looking forward to some peace and quiet. To celebrate I am offering 25% off all Memberships and Renewals until midnight 8/15. Use coupon code "BACKTOSCHOOL" to get the discount.

I've added one last render of "Heliocentric (Night)" to the gallery. This scene is lit simply by the Moon. The stars are a bit brighter and I have brought back the firelight in the lower right corner. The other versions will remain in the Pickle Jar.

I liked the "alien" version but I don't think the planet was really necessary for the scene. It was fun to try though and I hope those of you who enjoy it will continue to use whichever version you prefer! Thanks again for all the feedback on this one! Ready to render the multiscreen now...

Added "Clockwork" to the Members Gallery this evening. Just a little something I worked up on my MBP while waiting for "Heliocentric (Night)" to render on my main box. Once it finished I applied the finishing touches on Bucephalus.

I didn't notice while I was making it but my son Ian (upon seeing this render for the first time) mentioned that it looked like it was from the film we had watched for our "Friday Family Movie Night". I had to agree that he was right. This piece was definitely inspired by the original Tron.

I also wanted to mention that I've rendered "Heliocentric" at 5500 x 3438 (over 4.5x the resolution of my 2560 x 1600 files) for print. Check it out here if you are interested. The largest size available is over 6 ft wide!

The "Colossal" size (the default that first loads) is pretty expensive but smaller sizes are also available .

I started it rendering on Friday with no idea it would take all weekend. Wow! Fluffly clouds really put the hurt on the render times. I can take solace in the fact that it would have taken a full week to render on my old machine.

I sometimes hear that my night scenes are too dark, so I tried to make this one a little brighter than usual. I played with removing the clouds but this really darkened the scene too much. In the end I tweaked the clouds a bit to make them look a bit more "misty" and also added some beacon fires on the rocks.

One of my Members (David M) said the scene reminded him of the Lord of the Rings so I thought it would make a nice addition to the night version. Happy to say that I resisted putting some huge planet in the sky.

Anyway, I hope you like it. The scene is not without issues and I would love to tweak it in the future. A lot of folks have asked if I could post a "level" version (without the camera tilt) and I have done so in the Pickle Jar.

Feeling the call to move onto new projects now. Going back and forth between abstract and space...

This 7680 x 1600 frame took nearly a month uninterrupted on my alternate box. I had tried to render it back in 2008 but the version of Vue I was using mangled the clouds when I stretched out the aspect ratio. Rather than post a substandard render I promised I would do it right when the bug was fixed. I hope it was worth the wait!

It feels good to cross another render off my bucket-list and free up my alt-renderer for some new tasks. Hope to have my night version of "Heliocentric" up shortly!

Some changes in the Free Gallery this morning. Where before I've had a sampling images created in the past couple of years, I will now instead feature one free wallpaper from every year (starting with 2010) going back to 2000. Every so often I will change each year's representative.

Hopefully this will allow a broader selection of my work to be sampled while also reserving more of my recent efforts for my Members. It should also allow me to update the free gallery a bit more often from a wider range of images.

Members: Last evening I started a night version of "Heliocentric" rendering. I think you guys will like this one!

Here's a photo of Jessie sporting the "ladies petite" model. She didn't want the design to be as large as on the boys shirts so she shrank it down using Zazzle's "Customize" button. Come to think of it I may have to get her a shirt that says "mrs.digitalblasphemy"...

I've added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Heliocentric" to the Members Gallery this morning. For some unknown reason the 7680 x 1600 triple-screen took 5X longer to render (72 hrs vs 14) than the 3227 x 2048 single screen. I think it was worth the wait however.

A few items to mention this morning. I've added 480 x 640 crops of the 2560 x 1600 PNGs so everyone can better see the details in my work. The detail images themselves are lossless PNGs. Just look for the "See Detail" link on my image preview pages to take a closer look.

I've posted a new version of Heliocentric in the Members Gallery this morning. The clouds are smoothed out a bit as are the rocks in the foreground. There are a few other little tweaks that I will leave for you to discover.

This one is still a bit rough around the edges but thought it looked nice enough to share while I do some more polishing. It rendered in 14 hours on Bucephalus, which means it would have taken nearly 2 days to complete on my old workstation!

FYI: I've added nearly 300 1600 x 900 wallpapers to the gallery this afternoon. Members can download them individually or all-at-once in a zip file here. All new wallpapers will be available at that resolution.

07/01/11A few items to mention today. First, I've added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Phraxis Moon" to the Members gallery this afternoon. Those of you who thought the physics of such a scene were outlandish in the single screen version will find more to love in the expanded frame.

I've also finally come up with a design I can be proud of for Zazzle's black t-shirts. It took quite a bit of fiddling with my original Lightwave file to render a version that would work well but I'm very happy with this. The text is customizable so write whatever you like or remove it altogether. I'm going to be ordering a few of these right now for the me & the family. Sure to raise an eyebrow or two at my kid's school but that's okay with me ;)

FYI: Zazzle is offering 17.76% off all t-shirt orders this weekend if you use the coupon code "LANDOFTHETEE". The design is available on any of Zazzle's black appearal including long sleeve tees and sweatshirts for all ages and genders. Enjoy!

Lastly I wanted to give a plug for a wallpaper management program that one of my Members is developing. It's called "Chronowall" and it adds some features that seem tailor-made for my images (changing the image according to time of day, shifting the hue for different colors, and other cool effects). The program is in beta right now but he may still have some slots open if you want to sign up as a tester. The developer was also nice enough to purchase a commercial license and feature my work in his example screenshots. Well done Joshua!

Couple of items to mention today. First, I've added "Happy 4th" to the free gallery today. I wish those of you in the US a safe and happy holiday weekend! I do have a couple of otherfitting wallpapers that my Members can choose from.

I also wanted to let you all know that I've signed a license agreement with Muralsyourway.com today. I already offer posters through Zazzle but these are a bit different. They are designed to take up an entire wall! I hope to have my images up and available by next week so watch this space if you are interested.

If there's an image you would really like to see available as a mural please feel free to post in the comments thread below!

The reaction to "Phraxis Moon" was so positive that I decided to spend a few more hours to flesh out the rough bits so it could have its own place in my gallery. Thanks for the feedback everyone! This is your gallery too..

PS: The prices on my Amazon links for signups and renewals will go back to normal tomorrow. (06-29-11 edit: The sale is over. Thanks everyone!)

I found this render on my old computer last night and wondered why I never posted it in the first place. It was from 2009 when I was developing "Phraxis" so I have placed it in the Pickle Jar there for Members to download. It's pretty rough but interesting to look at.

I am usually at odds when I develop a space scene. There are usually two ways to go: I can use the view "from space" or I can try a view from "the ground". With Phraxis I eventually went with the space view. Which do you prefer?

If you've been following my site for any length of time you probably know that I am a huge fan of George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series. I was overcome with joy when I first heard that HBO might be filming it, and watching the first season was a 10-hour nerdgasm for me. The season finale left me (and millions around the world) salivating for Season 2.

Of course, it would have been trivial to simply Photoshop the original and make it red, but I felt it would look a lot better if I rendered a new version. It helped that Bucephalus rendered the whole thing in under 1 hour. I haven't added it to the free gallery (yet) but I have posted a 1280 x 800 version of my Facebook page which my fans there can download and share. I hope you enjoy it!

I had originally placed this render in the Pickle Jar but the reaction was so positive that I decided to should have a place of its own in my gallery.

I also wanted to mention that I have added entries to my FAQ and help pages for Android users. Hope this helps!

I've added a few renders to the gallery this afternoon. Three are for Members and one freebie.

First, there's a very earlier "proto" version of "Dødenfell". I was really just playing around with Vue 9.5's new clouds here when I discovered that it would finally be possible to answer all of those requests for volcanic lightning.

I think it is a pretty neat render on it's own, though probably not deserving of a full slot in my main gallery. I did want my Members to get a chance to download it though.

I have also updated the dual and triple-screen versions of "Interopposite". I scaled the depth-of-field effect way back from the original multiscreen so this one should look a lot less blurry. I've overwritten the original files with this new version so be sure to keep the files you downloaded if you like the first version.

I've added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Dødenfell" to the gallery this evening. I've offset the dual-screen (above) rather than split the volcano between two screens. It does lose a bit of the sky this way but I think it makes better use of the expanded frame. I hope you guys enjoy it!

I promise I'll try to create something a little less gloomy looking next time.;)

A number of folks asked that I extend my Summer Special through payday so if you still want take advatange of my 25% discount on new Memberships and Renewals you are still welcome to do so. I will leave the coupon code active until 6/19 (but no further) for those who want to use it over the weekend.

Use coupon code "summertime" to get the discount and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

My Summer Special continues through tomorrow so please feel free to take advatange of my 25% discount on new Memberships and Renewals! Use coupon code "summertime" to get the discount and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sorry it's been so quiet around here for the past week or so. Right after I posted "Dødenfell" I had to step away from the computer for a little family time. I've had all of my renderers buzzing while I was away however and today I am harvesting the first of their fruits.

I've added the dual and triple-screen version of "Interopposite" to the gallery this afternoon. As I've been doing with my other recent abstract multiscreens, I choose to change up the camera angle a bit for this version. I hope it works for your setup!

I also wanted to mention that I am running a Summer Special until Wednesday. All Memberships and Renewals (including the Lifetime option) are 25% off. Just use the coupon code "summertime" on the sign up or renewal page to get the discount. Thanks and stay tuned for more renders coming up this week!!

I've posted a new version of "Night on Eldritch Mountain" in the Members Gallery this afternoon. Probably the most obvious change will be the new title. I have changed it to "Dødenfell". Why you ask?

Tueday night, I showed the project to my son Ian and asked him what I should call it. I'd been struggling with a title for the past couple of days and was ready for some fresh ideas. They don't get any fresher than from a 7 year old. He immediately said "Death Mountain" and even drew a nice picture of his own to illustrate the concept which I posted on my Facebook page as a teaser on Wednesday.

"Death Mountain", while cool, has "Zelda" connotations that I do not wish to evoke here.

After sleeping on it last night I have settled on the title "Dødenfell", which is a mangling of the Norwegian "Døden Fjell" ("Death Mountain").

Ian's drawing also gave me the idea to set a few fires along the shoreline. It turned out to be the only way to get reflected light in the water from the angle.

Hope you like the changes! The version I posted yesterday can still be found in the Pickle Jar!

I added "Dødenfell" to the gallery this afternoon. I'm proud to say it is my first project designed and rendered entirely on my new workstation (Bucephalus). A huge thanks to all the Members and people who pitched in (over $3000!) so I could work with such an insane tower of technology!

This one started as a thunderstorm but as I was working on it I was reminded of the volcano and decided to go in that direction. I would say that I am happy with the top 3/4 of the piece but the bottom could still use something. I thought it looked nice enough to post as is however.

It's been a hectic couple of days for me, setting up my new workstation, which I have named "Bucephalus", and sifting through 5 years of digital detritus to separate the wheat from the chaff. I am now finally to the point where I can do some real work done.

This new machine is a real beast and should last me for another 5 years (fingers crossed). The final specs are: 2 Xeon X5690 Hexacore 3.46 GHz Procs, 48 GB of RAM, EVGA GTX590, and some zippy fast SSDs. There's also 7 fans keeping everything cool so I may have to look into water cooling because it sounds like a jet at times.

First up is posting the next revision of "Riverbend" that I have had rendering on my (old) alternate box for the past week or so. I've tweaked the shoreline a bit, smoothed out the water, and changed a few colors here and there. I was still rendering it on my old machine so I haven't bumped up the atmosphere quality yet. Perhaps when I do a final render on Bucephalus.

I've added a new abstract, "Interopposite", to the Members gallery this morning. This one is a study of "interconnected opposition" (or yin yang), a theme I have been pondering quite a bit lately. It is another project that started out on my MacBook Pro while waiting for a render("Riverbend") to complete on my main box.

It will be nice when my new workstation is finally assembled (waiting on a few pieces) and I will have four capable renderers available to me. I'm looking forward to posting the multiscreen renders much more quickly. I will also finally be able to render mural sized images (I already have a printing company lined up). The downside is I might have to install a windmill and/or solar array to keep my power bills from going throught he roof...

Check back in the next couple of days for my "Riverbend" render. It is nearly ready but will probably a small nip tuck before I post it. The foggy atmosphere in this one takes a wicked long time to render!

The fact that my next revision of "Riverbend" has taken so long to render is one of the reasons I decided to bite the bullet and purchase my new workstation this morning. Here's a screenshot of my final order but the main specs are thus: Dual six-core Xeon 3.46 GHz, 48 GB Ram, 240 GB SSD (Intel 510), and a single GTX 590 (for now). Believe it or not I saved nearly $6k building from scratch!

Thanks to everyone who helped out by signing up or renewing over the past few months. As always, I couldn't do any of this without your support. Hopefully this machine will keep me rendering for the next five or six years!

Happy Mother's Day! Just wanted to mention a few items this morning before getting back to Jessie's foot massage.

First, a couple of Members have kindly donated Lifetime Memberships to give away to deserving Moms via my Facebook Page. I have added a couple of yearly Memberships so we can have a proper contest. All you need to do to enter is share a story about your Mom (or your own Motherhood experience). The entries with the most "Likes" will be awarded the Memberships (so please help me judge them!). The first was awarded this morning to Katie Duchscherer.

Second, if you are interested in helping me pull the trigger on my new workstation then I hope you will take advatange of my Mother's Day Sale (25% off all Memberships and Renewals with coupon code LOVEYOUMOM).

Last, but far from least, I have added a new render to the gallery this morning. I call it Riverbend and it is probably about 75% complete. The sunbeams need to be toned down a bit (to differentiate the piece from another in my gallery). Hope you enjoy it! Now back to those feet...

I am offering the sale partly to fund the new workstation I have been eyeing for the past few weeks and your help is greatly appreciated! Please post in the thread below if you have any questions or comments. Thanks for your support!

I've added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Ostereier 2011" to the Members gallery this morning. I would haved liked to have rendered a multiscreen version of the original, but somehow I managed to lose a few of the original eggs sometime over the last 8 years. For some reason the egg files referenced by the Lightwave scene file are nowhere to be found on my HD. Very odd.

Anyway, I recently tried to open up my 2003 scene file (to do a higher res render) and was horrified to see that some of my egg objects were missing. As I looked at the incomplete scene I started playing with a few of the eggs that were left and after a while I guess I had redone them all.

The resulting render is a little on the trippy side, but I guess it is 4/20 after all...

I've posted my revised version of "Tropic of Thetis (Nightfall)" in the Members Gallery this morning. I had been trying to get the surf to glow as well but in the end it didn't look as good as I had hoped (took too much focus away from the top of the screen).

This new version tones down the clouds and adds a bit of haze to the horizon (so the islands are more visible). There's a couple of other minor changes as well. The original version, as always, will be available in the Pickle Jar. I may add these extra versions in the days ahead.

You will also notice that I've changed the watermark on my images. Nothing major, just removed the ".com". I hope the new watermark still looks ok (and not too noticable) on your screens. Let me know if you have any problems.

Happy Monday everyone! A few items to report this morning. First, with Easter fast approaching I thought it would be a good time to feature my one and only Easter wallpaper in the free gallery. I call it "Ostereier" (a German word) and it turned out so well I haven't made another Easter pic for the past 8 years (not the real reason).

Members: I've tweaked my gift certificates a bit to reward you for sharing my work. I have added a $10 1-month gift certificate and I will now add time to your Membership for every gift purchased.

I will add 30 days for every 1-month, 90 days for every 1-year and a whole year for every Lifetime gift. Gift certificates are discounted when you purchase more than one. Just be sure you log in before you use the form so my system recognizes your username.

Lastly, both my machines are hard at work rendering my updated "Tropic of Thetis (Nightfall) and "Dolmen". I hope to have both up very soon. Stay tuned!

Shortly after I posted "Tropic of Thetis" a number of Members suggested that I should try a night version. It has sort of become a tradition around here that I complement a bright wallpaper with a dark version. It's fun for me to explore how a scene can totally change given the time of day so I am happy to oblige.

For "Tropic of Thetis (Nightfall)" it was suggested that "bioluminescence" would look interesting so I tried my hand at adding some to the water and the flora. I still have some improvements I would like to make to this render but I think it looks nice enough to share as is. I hope you enjoy it!

I've swapped a few items out of my future workstation build. I'm thinking now that I will go with a SSD boot/application drive and a RAID 10 setup for data. I've also chucked the Quadro 4000 in favor of a GTX 590 (if I can get my hands on one). I like that it has 3 DVI onboard and it looks faster than the Quadro.

I would love to hear suggestions for a quality SSD (over 250 GB). The one I picked looks nice but I am no expert. Basically I want a machine that will last me another 5 years.

Anyway, I'm getting close to pulling the trigger and I wanted to thank the Members who have helped with donations. I really appreciate the support! Be on the lookout for a night version of "Tropic of Thetis" that is a little bit different...

I've posted a new render of "We Don't Like Zombies" with the "Repeater" translucency toned down. They should look more 3D now and less blown out. You can still get the first version in the Pickle Jar. The free version is here.

I was able to re-render this fairly quickly thanks to E-onsoftware sending me the new release of Vue d'Esprit yesterday out of the blue. The new DOF mode cut the rendering time down to just a few hours! I can't wait to play with those new cloud controls!

I teased recently that I would be doing a wallpaper based on my family's favorite video game and there was interested speculation. No, my kids are little too young for WoW (and I avoid MMORPGs for fear of being sucked in). In my house the go-to game is PopCap's "Plants vs Zombies".

Now I do quite a bit of "plant modeling" in my work and I had the idea to introduce my kids to how I work by creating a scene they would be familiar with. They had quite a bit of editorial input on how the plants should look and I think they came away thinking I was pretty cool (better enjoy it while it lasts). I plan for them to help me model some of the other plants in the game as exercises so don't be surprised if you see another PvZ theme in the future.

I've never done a wallpaper based on another "property" so I felt a little strange about posting it for Members only. In the end I decided to post it concurrently in my Members and Free galleries.

I've added an updated version of "Tropic of Thetis" to the Members Gallery. The water in the first version was a little flat so I've employed Vue's displaced ocean here. I've also added some underwater reflections and parted the clouds to reveal a risen Thetis. There may be one or two new palms scattered about as well.

Just wanted to mention a little sale going on over at DecalGirl. For the past year or so I've partnered with them to offer my work as precut "Skins" for the most popular devices (including the Kindle,iPad, and even the PS3).

If you don't see the design you like in the product gallery you can simply pick one of my base designs (I added 10 new ones yesterday!) and create a custom skin for any just about any device under the Sun.

As for the sale, DecalGirl is offering a 15% discount on any skin featuring my work (mine only) until Midnight Eastern tonight. Just use coupon code DB15OFF when you check out with them.

Why just my work? Funny you should ask. DecalGirl runs a very active Facebook page and is accumulating fans quickly because they are always having cool contests and promotions. One of these is an "Artist's Sale" where they ask people to post their favorite DecalGirl Artist and then discount the most popular.

I've seen a few of these come and go and always thought it would be nice to win one. Really though, a lot of the other artist's work just blows me away and I can see why more people vote for them. Vladstudio's "Library" Skin for Kindle is about as perfect (not-to-mention ironic) a design as you can get for the ereader.

Still, I wanted to get the coupon not only for you guys but for the other DecalGirl customers who haven't heard of my work yet. When DecalGirl announced their most recent Artist's Sale and I saw a few votes for me pop up in the early going, I decided to juice things a bit by asking my Facebook/Twitter followers to vote for me. As you can see in the original thread, it went pretty well.

It was pretty underhanded of me though and I promise not to do make a habit out of asking for things like this.

As promised when I asked for the votes, I am offering the same 15% discount on my Memberships and Renewals (including Lifetime) while the DecalGirl coupon was active. Feel free to use the coupon code DB15OFF to get the discount on my signup/renewal pages.

I had new versions of "Tropic of Thetis" and "Dolmen" rendering right now and I hope to have them up shortly. I also have a special render dedicated to one of my family's favorite video games. Stay tuned. . .

First, confession time. I posted "Dolmen" unfinished not only because I wanted it to be ready for St. Paddy's Day but also because I was heading out the door that morning for a little holiday with my family in Florida that we'd been planning for ages .

We just got back last evening (some pics here if you are interested) and I haven't really had a chance to start any revisions on the dolmen, but I do appreciate all the wonderful feedback!

While waiting for the Dolmen to finish rendering I doodled a little tropical daydream on my laptop. I set it to render on my main machine while I was away and, though it is still in the very rough stages, I thought it looked nice enough to share. I call it (tentatively) "Tropic of Thetis" and I'm thinking it will be a day render in my "Tropical Moon" series (the planet will be added later).

Lastly a HUGE to the folks who have been donating to my "new workstation fund" ($3738.97 since 3/3!). My goal with the donations is enough to get me two more 30" monitors so I can finally have a triple-head system of my own (I will be covering the new workstation myself). If you own multiple monitors and want to see a "multiscreen reniassance" at DB, please think about chipping in because these suckers are expensive!

I've also added "Facebook Comment" boxes to the free gallery images (on a trial basis). This means if you are currently logged into your Facebook account you will be able to leave comments "as yourself" on my free image pages. Seems like a great way to hear from as many people as possible without having to deal with anonymous posters.

Donations are completely optional (I would much rather you purchase a Membership or renewal) but I thought I would put up a form for the Lifetime members or folks who would like to help out without becoming a Member.

Thanks and I will post here when I've narrowed my hardware options further!

I've added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Arcana" to the Members gallery this morning. The different camera angle worked well for the "Inner Workings" multiscreens so I thought I would try it again here. The original single-screen has a bit of an unconventional angle so I moved the camera down to ground level for a more intimate view on the scene.

I've also added a crop of the new camera angle for single screen users in the Pickle Jar.

As you will see from the list, I am stuck between using a 4U "barebones server" as a starting point, or purchasing the case/mobo/psu a la carte. One system would use SAS drives and the other SATA 6GB/s (I have listed both).

I'm not certain I trust SSDs enough yet. I know they are fast though.

Both systems would use dual six-core Xeons running at 3.46 GHz and would use at least 24 GB of RAM. 48 would be nicer of course...

I wasn't entirely satisfied with the volumetric effects in my first "Arcana" render so I went back to the drawing board yesterday. The particle effects were a little overwhelming in the first version so I cut most of them. I also added some fractal sorcery courtesy of Apophysis.

I've always been a sucker for magic and fantasy. Someofmyearliestrendersattempttocapturethis. For whatever reason it has been a quite a long time since I've tried anything "magical". After doing a little CRPG gaming this winter and purchasing a new version of Lightwave the time seemed right to dust off my spellbook.

The result is "Arcana" which is new in the Members Gallery this morning. This one took about 10 days longer to produce than it should have. The volumetrics were simply too much for my current machine. One render locked up at 66 hours and (after I dialed back the quality settings a tad) the final render took 155 hours. Amazingly it only took something like 10 minutes to render without the volumetrics. I will not wait that long for the multiscreen version.

Anyway, I hope the wait was worth it. For my part I have not been sitting idle while this rendered on and on. I have two other projects going on my other machines so March looks to come in like a lion...

I had hoped to have my new project ready for you over the past weekend, but my renderer locked up after 64 hours into the process (with but 9 left to go) and I had to restart. The scene file was saved so only time was lost, but it still stung.

It is humming along again and looks to be ready sometime in the next 24 hours.

In the meantime while you are here I would invite you to browse through the gallery and rate a few images if you haven't done so for a while. First log-in here and then as you browse the gallery only the images you have rated will have an input form.

I certainly don't expext anyone to rate more than a few at a time. It does help me out though as my newer work only makes my "Top Rated" lists when they have at least 100 ratings. Let me know if you have any questions in the "Site Comments" thread.

Thanks so much and please check back in the days ahead (or follow me on Facebook or Twitter to get updated in your "stream"). I think this one will be worth the wait.

My new project is nearly complete and just needs a bit of fine tuning before I start the final render. I would love to show it to you right now but I think would be better to show this one when it is fully complete. For my part I will endeavor to make it worth the wait.

Lastly, it looks like Project Messiah reached their goal so everyone who ordered their animation package for the ridiculous discount will be getting their licenses. I guess there's a few more hours left to take advantage of the offer so here's the link if anyone is interested.

A few items to mention today. First, Members can now the new dual and triple-screen renders of "Inner Workings" Rather than simply widen the frame on the single-screen scene (as I almost always do for my multiscreen renders), I've chosen instead to zoom in tight and let the "central object" fill the entire frame. I hope it was worth the wait.

Second I wanted to mention an awesome bargain that came across my inbox yesterday. The good folks over at Project Messiah are offering their $499 3D animation software for only $10 (or the $1199 pro version for $40). The catch is the you only get your license if enough people take advantage of the offer (otherwise your purchase if refunded). Here's the link and please share it with your friends who might be interested in trying out 3D rendering!

Lastly, my new wallpaper is progressing nicely and, while I don't have an ETA, I have a feeling people will enjoy it. I definintely haven't done a project like this for a long time.

I've brightened the scene (the inner cells are now more transperant and reflect more light) and I've dialed back the DOF blur a bit. I also let Fprime "refine" it a about 12 hours longer than version 2 so it should be a bit smoother.

The new multiscreen is rendering on my other box and I hope to have it ready tomorrow. It's a very different view than the previous multiscreen. . .

Here's a revised version of "Inner Workings" that I have been working on. Members can find the full res download in the Pickle Jar. Not sure if this clears up anything with regards to what exactly I've modeled here. I've really enjoyed reading the theories so far however.

You will notice I've changed up the colors. It was mentioned that the original version had Green Bay Packers colors so changes had to be made. I'm not bitter though...

Anyway, as usually happens when my renders go more than a few hours, I've found a thing or two I would like to tweak before moving on once and for all. Hope to have the final version up early next week.

I've added the dual and triple-screen versions of "Inner Workings" this morning. Even with Fprime, it took over 48 hours to render at 7860 x 1600 on my dual xeon X5365s. I can only imagine how long it would have taken with Lightwave's native renderer.

I recently upgraded my Lightwave software to the latest version (10) and for my first project back I thought I would explore some of the new features. My favorite so far is the new "VPR" interface which finally makes it possible to work with Hypervoxels.

The dual and triple-screen renders of "The Fisherman" are finally finished and I've added them to the gallery this morning. I hope they were worth the wait!

This one an unacceptably long time to render so my hunt for a new workstation has officially begun. My current setup is going on 5 years old so the time is definitely come. Hopefully I can afford one by this summer (or sooner with your support).

I am still waiting for the multiscreen render of "The Fisherman" to finish. I hope to have it up within the next couple of days but it's hard to tell with this new version of Vue d'Esprit. It's been telling me that the render has 16 hours left for the past 2 days.

On the subject of posting images: I've added "The Fisherman" (#692) to the gallery this morning. If you've followed my work for the past few years you know that I like to follow up my holiday wallpapers with something warm and tropical. Think of it as a little New Year's vacation for your desktop. My love of winter ebbs considerably after the holidays. . .

I hope you enjoy "The Fisherman". It went through a rather convoluted creation process so there should be a few Pickles to post later on. Next up: The multiscreens.

I also want to mention that I tweaked my "Pay-it-Forward" system. I've removed the 2 and 3 year options and have lowered the price for the 1 year anonymous gift renewal to $7. Each one you purchase you will anonymously renew a random membership (chosen from a pool of accounts that are set to expire within 1 week).

With any luck the recipient will be inspired by your generosity and choose to "pay-it-forward". I just need to get the wave started...